


Meta - Fine Art Avengers AU "casting"

by annathecrow



Series: annathecrow's old tumblr meta [3]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternative Universe - Art World, Alternative Universe Characterizations, Archived From Tumblr, Fine Art, Gen, Meta, Nonfiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-18 19:42:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29863119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annathecrow/pseuds/annathecrow
Summary: Imagine this: the heroes of the Avengers movie (and some later additions) are all artists or artist-adjacent. Who would they be?AKA "the author went to art school and this is all she did with it". Includes copious references (and wikipedia links!) to specific real artists. Best enjoyed if you're an art nerd, but might double as a cca 90s art style sampler for the uninitiated.
Series: annathecrow's old tumblr meta [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2195553
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2
Collections: March Meta Matters Challenge





	Meta - Fine Art Avengers AU "casting"

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on 14 Nov 2015 on tumblr, and archived as a part of the [March Meta Matters Challenge.](https://marchmetamatterschallenge.dreamwidth.org/)

First, a warning: I’m intentionally fucking with the generations of artists in this. It’s gonna make the most sense when you imagine it’s set in the late 90s, probably.

 **Tony** is a “superstar” sculptor (think [Damien Hirst](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damien_Hirst)). Hi-tech, interactive, immersive installations. He started with big flashy controversial shit, offending pretty much every social/political/religious group in existence, but after an unspecified incident turned toward more conceptual, minimalist pieces (and donated big chunk of his money to charities). Imagine [David Letellier](https://vimeo.com/18240085), [Anish Kapoor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anish_Kapoor) but kinetic; [THIS](https://vimeo.com/17720003).

 **Rhodey** is a minimalistic sculptor doing big public space installations. Basically [Richard Serra](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Serra), or maybe [Alexander Calder](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Calder) when he listens to Tony too much.

 **Pepper** is Tony’s gallerist. Nobody else could stand him more than a month, even with all the money they could make on him. (Note: srtists traditionally have a gallerist who sells their work, promotes them, organizes exhibitions etc. The gallerist usually represents more than one artist, and famous artists sometimes have more than one gallerist. It’s a symbiotic relationship.)

 **Christine Everhart** is a journalist who targets the art scene. Currently works for Vanity Fair and writes spotlight articles that wildly jump from tasteful and well-researched to bombastic misinterpretin garbage written to sell. Art critics love to hate her, and every mid range artist both dreams and dreads of the possibility of being interviewed by her.

 **Natasha** is a performance artist whose work thematizes questions of identity, personhood, and being observed. She’s a Russian expat; escaped being charged with public indecency, roamed Europe for a while, and got pulled to USA by Clint. Basically, mix [Carolee Schneemann,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolee_Schneemann) [Marina Abramovic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marina_Abramovi%C4%87) and [Pussy Riot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pussy_Riot), and you have Natasha.

 **Clint** is a dadaist performance/happening artist. He used to work with his brother, but they had a huge and public falling out. He flops around Europe galleries for a while, meets Natasha, and persuades her to return to US with him. Whether they have a thing is anyone’s guess. They work together a lot, and sometimes also with Clint’s ex-wife **Bobbi Morse** , even if she changed career tracks and mostly works as a stage actress. Think: [Meat Joy](https://www.moma.org/collection/works/126279); early [Chris Burden](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Burden#Early_performance_art), [Joseph Beuys](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Beuys)

 **Steve** is a figuralist painter. He had a flash of sudden popularity as a 17 year old scrappy gay kid from Brooklyn, but then disappeared from the art scene - there was even a talk of him dying of AIDS. Years later, he is rediscovered by the SHIELD Foundation, and quickly becomes an art world sensation. Imagine [Keith Haring](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Haring), but if he was more [neo-expressionist](http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/history-of-art/neo-expressionism.htm) and maybe liked [Edward Hopper](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Hopper) in high school.

 **Sam** is a also a painter. Heavily inspired by Harlem Rennaisance ([Aaron Douglas](http://www.aarondouglas.ku.edu/resources/teacher_resource.pdf)!) and street art, paints huge murals but more importantly works with the communities and often kids, like [Tim Rollins and K.O.S.](https://fryemuseum.org/exhibition/3315/). Visually think: [Jean-Michel Basquiat](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Michel_Basquiat), [Chris Ofili](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Ofili). He meets Steve through an art project with veterans sponsored by SHIELD.

 **Bucky** is… well. We don’t know much about his early work. He grew up with Steve in Brooklyn, they were best friends, they both were struggling artists. Nobody really knows what happened after that, but apparently it was messy and they lost contact in a big way. When Steve resurfaces through SHIELD Foundation, he thinks Bucky died (sadly not that wild a guess). Plot twist: he re-appears under a changed name as a concept artist in a semi-famous game studio. Where has he been all these years? Why the name change? And how does the industry luminary **Alexander Pierce** figure into all this?

 **Hope Van Dyne** is an abstract painter. Both her mother and father were artists - **Hank Pym** is a big name [abstract expressionist](https://www.theartstory.org/movement/abstract-expressionism/), **Janet Van Dyne** was a [color field](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_field) painter (something like [Frank Stella](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Stella) but even more details, maybe you could even say it was op art). Hope’s relationship with Hank is abysmal. Not only does she blame him for killing Janet’s art career (not just by having her run their household, but also by constantly criticizing her work), but also for literally killing her by not being there for her when Janet got cancer and needed his support. You’d think she wouldn’t care when he digs out some hot mess of a painter as his protegé… but, well. He’s her father.

 **Daisy Johnson** is a land artist. And I’m not talking [Andy Goldsworthy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Goldsworthy), think [Michael Heizer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Heizer) or [Robert Smithson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Smithson)! She first appeared on the radar with clever computer art and net-art pieces under a pseudonym (Skye), but then she found herself in the middle of a dynasty drama of soap-operatic dimensions (poor orphan turned lost heir to an empire! evil plots! “crazy” relatives!). Media had a field day, and nobody thought she’s ever going back to her art career. Well, guess again. She uses her considerable funds to finance the SHIELD Foundation scholarship program, and build her enormous art pieces. She has a fantastic production team, and everyone on the art scene is absolutely in awe of her.

(I don’t have anything for Bruce yet. I’m playing with “artist with anger issues destroys a gallery and runs away to Asia”, but I don’t know what’s his thing.)

(Ditto for Wanda and Pietro.)

(and there is still so many art fields I haven’t considered yet)


End file.
